This invention relates to animal slaughtering processing plants and more particularly to an arrangement to measure the back fat thickness at the first rib, the last rib, and the last lumbar of animal carcasses conveyed on an overhead conveyor.
Hog slaughtering plants which optimizes the value of the resulting cuts made from each carcass under existing market conditions as well as providing management with a tool by which each animal or hog can be evaluated in terms of profit or loss based on the total operation from purchase of the animal to sale of the resulting products is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,940,998, whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference. The process described in this patent includes making physical measurements of the ham circumference, body length, back fat depth and a subjective evaluation of muscle quality. These are utilized to provide data to a computer which in accordance with the algorithm set forth in the above-cited patent, predicts the weight or range of weights of the ham/loin cuts which can be produced and issues instructions as to the point with respect to the aitch bone for the butcher to cut each individual hog carcass to optimize the value under existing market price conditions of the resulting ham/loin cut.
Measuring of back fat thickness on hog carcasses on a production line has in the past been performed from a stationary platform requiring more than one person as the three measurements required must be made at the first rib, the last rib and the last lumbar of the animal or hog carcass.